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DUNEDIN, FLA.—For the first time in his pro career, Aaron Sanchez enters a season with no pre-set limits on the number of innings he can pitch.

The all-star starting pitcher logged 192 big-league innings last season — not including playoffs — and did a quick August stint with the Buffalo Bisons aimed at saving his powerful right arm for a playoff run.

The Jays won’t cap Sanchez’s workload this year, but they continue to place a ceiling on his salary, renewing his contract at a league-minimum $535,000 (all figures U.S.) after Sanchez turned down a modest raise.

Sanchez made $517,800 last year.

The decision prompted Sanchez’s agent, Scott Boras, to blast Jays management in an interview with Sportsnet, but Sanchez insisted any acrimony between his agent and his team doesn’t seep into his dealings with coaches and management.

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And Sanchez added his long-term future includes Toronto.

“I’m here for another four years, so there’s nothing to worry about,” Sanchez said after leaving Thursday’s 11-5 loss to the New York Yankees. “Obviously, we came upon a disagreement . . . This is still a business. It’s (just) a spot where we didn’t agree.”

Sanchez acknowledged turning down the Jays’ offer but declined to explain why he made that decision. Likewise, general manager Ross Atkins wouldn’t specify dollar amounts, but he told reporters that Sanchez rejecting the offer prompted the club to opt for the league minimum rather than negotiate further.

Sanchez becomes eligible for salary arbitration after this season, but until then the team has discretion over how much to pay him. Atkins said renewing the star pitcher at the league minimum falls under a decade-old Blue Jays policy on paying players not yet eligible for arbitration.

But the GM also acknowledged that nothing prevents the club from adjusting the policy or giving Sanchez a substantial raise. Other pre-arbitration players, like the Cubs’ Kris Bryant and Boston’s Mookie Betts, received hefty pay increases after standout rookie seasons. Bryant is scheduled to make $1,050,000 this season, while Betts will earn $950,000.

The policy itself dates back to J.P. Ricciardi, who served as the Jays’ general manager from 2001 through 2009. The current regime is free to craft a new policy, but Atkins said automatic renewals at the league minimum are logical and fair.

“We had 22 contracts to negotiate this year, so the policy was needed,” Atkins said. “With the increase in the major-league minimum, we didn’t feel like it was the best time to revisit that policy.”

Naturally, Sanchez’s camp disagrees. Speaking to Sportsnet earlier this week, Boras called the Jays decision “the harshest treatment any team could provide a player.”

Still, Atkins maintained that, for now, it’s fair to pay pre-arbitration players based on service time instead of performance.

Sanchez performed like a big-money player last year. In his first full season as a starting pitcher, Sanchez blossomed into an all-star, going 15-2 and leading the league in winning percentage (.882), ERA (3.00) and home runs per nine innings (0.7).

Manager John Gibbons still sees plenty of room for Sanchez to improve.

“I think Sanchie’s just scratching the surface,” Gibbons said before Thursday’s game. “He’s got a changeup he’s working on . . . In the past he was hit or miss with his off-speed stuff and he was basically living with his fastball. He’s just going to get better and better.”

Thursday afternoon, with the wind in Dunedin blowing out to right field, Sanchez gave up a pair of third-inning home runs. He left the game with two out in the third, having allowed six hits and four earned runs while striking out three batters.

But he hit 96 m.p.h. with his fastball while refining his off-speed pitches, so he considers the outing successful despite his stat line.

“I worked myself into some fastball counts (and) obviously I paid the price for that,” Sanchez said. “But overall I felt like it was a good day for me.”

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